Fresh off the heels of WWE SummerSlam, Payback picks up the action one week later with a lot of big changes that happened in between.
Roman Reigns' SummerSlam return after five months away shifted the balance at the top of the SmackDown roster, and while that return was one of the biggest surprises of the year, it almost paled by comparison to what happened on Friday, when Paul Heyman was revealed as Reigns' new advocate when the show went off the air.
Reigns was the favorite heading into the triple threat match for the Universal championship before that happened, but now he's prohibitively so. The intrigue tied to the lone top singles title being defended at Payback has to do with if and how Reigns' in-ring approach changes, and how Heyman's presence will change the equation moving forward.
Two other titles will be on the line, as Bayley and Sasha Banks defend their tag team championships against the makeshift team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, and Apollo Crews looks to make a clean sweep of "The Hurt Business" against Bobby Lashley.
Despite the lack of gold on the line, the stakes are high elsewhere. Keith Lee takes on Randy Orton in what will hopefully be an even better showcase for Lee than his abbreviated Raw debut, and the tag team match between Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy and the Mysterio family will seek a similarly definitive result.
Retribution, the group responsible for the attack on the Mysterios on Monday night, will likely have a role to play at Payback, but their motives and goals are still yet to be revealed. A high-profile moment could give Retribution some much-needed direction.
Tim Fiorvanti is here to break down the action at Payback throughout the night, as it happens.
Match in progress:
United States championship: Apollo Crews (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott def. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce
The Riott Squad put aside previous dysfunction and finally pulled out a decisive tag team win over The IIconics on the Payback kickoff show.
Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott entered the arena together as the Riott Squad with matching gear, and with The IIconics following with their own matching gear and singular entrance, it was a taste of what the women's tag team division could be if given more focus. Rather than two singles stars teaming up briefly, two wrestlers focusing specifically on tag team wrestling should be able to beat them most of the time.
But I digress. Though the story somewhat strained reality -- why would Morgan go so far as to make matching gear with Riott without watching back the footage from Raw over the last few weeks and realizing the missteps were accidents or manufactured by The IIconics -- but it was still fun when Morgan threw away her doubts and picked Riott up.
Morgan had most of the biggest offensive spots in the match, and despite a slip at one point, succeeded in her moment to shine. Morgan also broke up a pinfall attempt after Billie Kay and Peyton Royce hit Déjà Vu on Riott, which set Morgan up to hit one of the coolest finishing moves in the WWE right now, the ObLivion on Royce. A scramble with Kay ensued, and Riott and Morgan revealed their creative tag team finisher -- double knees from Morgan, followed by a Riott kick -- to secure the pinfall victory.
What's next: Morgan and Riott should be on the fast track to the top of the division. And, hopefully, more attention on the women's tag team titles in general. There are too many talented women sitting on the sidelines right now. Make them cohesive, long-term pairs, and elevate as many wrestlers as possible.
Still to come:
Triple threat No DQ match for the Universal championship
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Women's tag team championships
Bayley & Sasha Banks (c) vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton
Seth Rollins & Murphy vs. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio
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August 31, 2020 at 05:28AM
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WWE Payback results, updates, recaps and analysis - ESPN
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